State v. Callaghan

The defendant-appellant was found guilty of violating N.J.S.A. 39:4-85.1 by the Magistrate of Hanover Township, from which conviction he appeals.

The above statute provides that

"* * * local and county authorities with respect to highways under their jurisdiction may by ordinance, or resolution, subject to the approval of the Director of the Division of Motor Vehicles, designate any such highway or any separate roadway of such highway for one-way traffic and shall erect appropriate signs giving notice thereon. Upon a highway properly designated and signed for one-way traffic, a vehicle shall be driven only in the direction designated."

The defendant-appellant does not contest the designation of the highway as a one-way street but contends that it was not "properly designated and signed for one-way traffic."

N.J.S.A. 39:4-198 has a bearing on the question here involved. It states that

"No ordinance * * * passed by local authorities * * * shall be effective unless due notice thereof is given to the public by placing a sign at the places where the ordinance * * * is effective, and by briefing its provisions on signs according to specifications contained in this chapter or any supplement thereto. These signs shall be so placed as to be easily read by pedestrians or operators of vehicles. * * *"

N.J.S.A. 39:4-183.18 provides that one-way signs shall contain a white arrow with the message "one-way" in black letters and a black background with dimensions 36 inches long by 12 inches, and that they shall be placed on both corners of the outlet of the one-way street.

N.J.S.A. 39:4-183.14 provides:

"On highways where parked vehicles do not obstruct the required visibility, the bottom of the sign shall be two and one-half feet above the crown of the pavement. * * *"

R.S. 39:3-60 states:

"* * * whenever the driver of a vehicle approaches an oncoming vehicle within five hundred feet, such driver shall use a distribution of light or composite beam so aimed that the glaring rays are not projected into the eyes of the oncoming driver, and in no case shall the high-intensity portion which is projected to the left of the prolongation of the extreme left side of the vehicle be aimed higher than the center of the lamp from which it comes at a distance of twenty-five feet ahead, and in no case ...

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